- Scientists found strange black and green glass patches in the Chilean desert.
- A sort of New research Attribute the glass to a comet or comet-like object that exploded about 12,000 years ago.
- Ancient explosions may be bigger than any meteor explosion we have witnessed in our lifetimes.
- For more stories, please visit www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
At first glance, the Atacama Desert in northern Chile looks like a forgotten wasteland. It is one of the driest places on earth, with arid climate and almost no animals can survive. Humans are also scarce—the area is full of ghost towns. A desert is full of clues to disasters that might have occurred about 12,000 years ago.
About ten years ago, scientists discovered scattered black and green glass blocks in a 75-kilometer-long corridor.Their origin is mysterious, but some researchers speculate A fire melted the soil, Fuse and harden minerals.
Peter Schultz, professor of geological sciences at Brown University, did not believe this theory when he visited the site in 2018. In addition to being scorched, the glass is also twisted, folded and sheared.
“These samples look like someone is there-some kind of cosmic god-just folding glasses to make some bread,” Schultz told Insider. “This is one of the things that makes my hair stand up.”
exist A study Published this week in the journal Geology, Schultz and his research team determined that an exploding comet or comet-like object fused the soil, resulting in the formation of a huge glass block. Researchers estimate that the explosion occurred between 11,500 and 12,300 years ago, when hunter-gatherers lived in the area, and large animals or megafauna disappeared from South America.
Schultz said his team is now investigating whether there is a connection between the disappearance of animals and ancient explosions.
“We have evidence,” he said. “We don’t have a smoking gun.”
Extreme heat and high winds can fold and distort the glass
Schultz et al., Geology, 2021
The researchers behind the study said they found “countless pieces” of folded, twisted glass. Schultz estimates that each patch is nearly 3 kilometers long and 0.6 miles (3 x 1 kilometers) wide. The glass block is also very large: up to 50 cm wide.
“Our truck was caught and we had to use a glass panel to rescue us,” Schultz said. “That’s how much glass there is-we put it under the wheels of the tires so we can drive our truck out.”
He added that depending on the size of the patch, the explosion could cause widespread damage.
“We can imagine this will happen,” Schultz said. “I think we will see multiple small celestial bodies and comets coming in. Then they hit different locations almost simultaneously within a few minutes.”
Schultz believes that the explosion occurred within a mile of the earth, but never hit the surface of the earth, which is why it did not form a crater. On the contrary, he said, it may bring enough extreme heat to melt the soil, plus strong winds Schultz compares pressure to fixing a watering hose to the ground. High winds will blow the glass up, kick it around, and then fold it several times.
It is unclear whether the explosion wiped out any large animals, but the researchers bet that hunter-gatherers settled on the plateau will witness the disaster.
“If this happens in an overpopulated area, I think there will be tens of thousands of deaths,” Schultz said. “It makes Chelyabinsk look like a runny nose and Tunguska like sneezing,” he added, referring to the two meteor explosions in 2013 and 1908 respectively. The explosion released much more energy than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The glass contains minerals found in meteorites
Tobias Roetsch/Future Publishing/Getty Images
Schultz said his team believed that the explosion formed glass patches in the Atacama Desert. He said that it is impossible for an ordinary fire to distort the soil to that degree, or on such a large scale.
His research also showed that the minerals in the glass are exposed to temperatures much higher than the temperature that can be reached by fire. After examining the glass under a microscope, his team found evidence of a decomposed gem called zircon.
Schultz said: “This is a distinct feature of extremely high temperatures, possibly higher than 1,700 degrees Celsius.”
The glass also contains minerals normally associated with meteorites, such as samples brought back from comets during NASA’s Stardust mission in 2006.
Schultz said: “We found material there that looked like something from the Stardust mission.”
